Jaimie Vernon – GWNtertainment

 

A million years ago (okay, it was 32) I had an idea to start a music magazine to promote Canadian music. The idea didn’t come out of nowhere and there was a catalyst to light the fire. It started as a newsletter in 1989 to promote my rock band Moving Targetz. It was called the M.T. Head Express and was mailed to our fans monthly to let them know about gigs, recordings, and all our shenanigans as a rock band. My ex’s mother, Gail Benson (RIP), said to me one day, “You should expand your news letter to cover other Canadian bands, not just your own.” And, so I did. In early 1990, I launched a 24-page fanzine called Great White Noise Magazine. My ex and I bought a brand new PC with a dot matrix printer for $1320. I had to take out a loan at my credit union to do it. It would take me until 1993 to pay it off!

JAIMIE VERNON – INDEPENDENCE IS OUR FUTURE

As I type this music retailer HMV is either in receivership or heading into it after one of the chain’s creditors called in their chips. The retail giant has been floundering for years and managed to escape an industry crash that took out the likes of Sam The Record Man and Tower Records stateside a decade ago. HMV’s position as one of the last giants standing (Sunrise has rallied to fill in the hole left by Sam’s), was only delaying the inevitable.

JAIMIE VERNON – THE BOOK GOES ON

I’m desperately trying to finish writing my 6^th book. It should have been released in December but things like re-launching my record label have had me in meetings for the better part of 4 months. The new book should actually be my seventh, but that book – ‘Sunny Days – The Skip Prokop Story’ – is taking a very long time to transcribe and edit though we do expect it to be completed in coming months.

JAIMIE VERNON – THE DAVE RAVE CONSPIRACY

Excerpted from the upcoming Bullseye Records 30^th Anniversary book “Bullsography”
I was plugging away on an old Underwood electric typewriter out of a one-bedroom apartment in Pickering Village in the late 1980s putting out a fanzine called Great White Noise magazine when I received correspondence from legendary Pig Paper fanzine guru Gary Pig Gold….

JAIMIE VERNON – HEY, NINETEEN

As you read this my wife Sharon Vernon and I have just celebrated our 19^th anniversary. We went to Cleveland to see two of her favourite bands – the American act Red Wanting Blue and Canadian rock darling The Trews who I introduced her to (musically) in 2003 after seeing them in a club in Halifax during the ECMA’s. We’ve done a lot of that on our anniversaries – going to see live acts. That includes Lighthouse on our 17^th and Ian Mitchell of the Bay City Rollers (see story below).

JAIMIE VERNON – THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF ALL THINGS

A small debate unfolded online this week concerning hard work vs. luck. I have always maintained, and still do, that all my successes have been from hard work. All my failures have been from my lack of hard work. Luck is something reserved for casinos and in finding four leaf clovers (ironically).

JAIMIE VERNON – I Like the Beatles And My Baby Loves The Rolling Stones

Bob Segarini’s song is an apt musical metaphor for “Men are from Mars, Women are from Anywhere They Damn Well Please”. But in my case, the title means exactly what it says. I’m a Beatles fan. My wife, Sharon Vernon, is a Rolling Stones fan (or at least she was…apparently she’s bored of them now). In our household that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a well balanced diet of charm, wit and brilliant pop sensibilities vs. machismo, grit and bad boy sexuality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yITEJnuXd3U

JAIMIE VERNON – SAM THE UBIQUITOUS MAN

This week, the legendary music retailer Sam Sniderman – the ‘Sam’ in Sam The Record Man music stores – passed away at the age of 92. The outpouring of tributes to one of the Yonge Street’s last retail mavens has been endless. He was a hero to Canadian musicians, an ally to record labels and a hard-nosed employer to his staff and franchisees. [see selected quotes from Facebook and the Twitterverse below]. I got the rare opportunity to deal with Sniderman on FOUR levels – media writer, musician, record label rep, and employee.